Thai Pongal is a four-days-long Indian Famous harvest festival observed in Tamil Nadu, a southern state of India. For as long as people have been farming and gathering food, there has been some form of harvest festival. Thai Pongal, one of the most significant popular Hindu festivals of the year. This four-day festival of thanksgiving to nature takes its name from the Tamil word meaning “to boil” and is held in the month of Thai (January-February) through the season when rice and other cereals, sugar-cane, and turmeric (an essential element in Tamil cooking) are harvested.

Mid-January is a great time in the Tamil calendar. The harvest festival, Pongal, falls typically on the 14th or the 15th of January and is the quintessential ‘Tamil Festival’. Thai Pongal is a harvest festival, a popular occasion for giving thanks to nature, for observing the life cycles that give us grain. Tamilians say ‘Thai pirandhaal vazhi pirakkum’, and understand that knotty family difficulties will be solved with the advent of the Tamil month Thai that begins on Pongal day. This is traditionally the month of marriages. This is not a surprise in a largely farming community – the riches gained from a good harvest form the economic basis for valuable family occasions like weddings.

The First Day

This first day is observed as Bhogi festival in celebration of Lord Indra, the greatest ruler of clouds that give rains. Homage is paid to Lord Indra for the bounty of the harvest, thereby bringing plenty and prosperity to the land. Another ritual celebrated on this day is Bhogi Mantalu, when useless home articles are thrown into a fire made of wood and cow-dung cakes. Girls disco around the bonfire, singing songs in praise of the gods, the spring and the harvest. The importance of the bonfire, in which is burnt the agricultural losses and firewood is to keep warm during the last lap of winter.

The Second Day

On the second day of Thai Pongal, the puja or act of ritual worship is achieved when rice is boiled in milk outdoors in an earthenware pot and is then symbolically awarded to the sun-god along with other oblations. All people wear acceptable dress and markings, and theirs is an interesting ritual where husband and wife motivate off elegant ritual utensils specifically used for the puja. In the village, the Pongal celebration is carried out more simply but with the same devotion. In accordance with the appointed ceremony, a turmeric plant is tied approximately the pot in which the rice will be boiled. The contributions include the two sticks of sugar-cane in background and coconut and bananas in the dish. A common point of the puja, in addition to the offerings, is the kolam, the promising design which is traditionally traced in white lime powder already the house in the early morning after bathing.

The Third Day

The third day is known as Mattu Pongal, the day of Pongal for cows. Multi-colored beads, tinkling bells, sheaves of corn and flower garlands are tied nearby the neck of the cattle and then are worshiped. They are fed with Pongal and taken to the village centers. The booming of their bells attract the villagers as the young men race each other’s cattle. The entire ambience becomes festive and full of fun and revelry. Arati is conducted on them, so as to ward off the evil eye. According to a legend, once Shiva asked his bull, Basava, to go to the earth and ask the creatures to have an oil massage and bath every day and to eat once a month. Inadvertently, Basava advertised that everyone should eat daily and have an oil bath once a month. This mistake enraged Shiva who then cursed Basava, deporting him to live on the earth forever. He would have to cultivate the fields and help people produce more food. Thus the organization of this day with cattle.

The Fourth Day

The Fourth day is recognized as Knau or Kannum Pongal day. On this day, a turmeric leaf is decreased and is then placed on the ground. On this leaf are placed, the leftovers of sweet Pongal and Venn Pongal, regular rice as well as rice colored red and yellow, betel leaves, betel nuts, two pieces of sugarcane, turmeric leaves, and plantains. In Tamil Nadu women achieve this ritual before bathing in the morning. All the women, young and old, of the house, assemble in the courtyard. The rice is placed in the centre of the leaf, while the women ask that the house and family of their brothers should succeed. Arati is performed for the brothers with turmeric water, limestone and rice, and this water is sprinkled on the kolam in front of the house.